The Bunsen Burner Incident
by Pandora147
Summary: An unfortunate incident in the science laboratory forces Gabriella to take a trip to the beauty salon and adopt a new look. TxG. Random, almost pointless one-shot.


**TITLE: The Bunsen Burner Incident**

**SUMMARY: An unfortunate incident in the science laboratory forces Gabriella to take a trip to the ****beauty salon and adopt a new look. TxG. Random, almost pointless one-shot. **

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**This is kind of a follow up to Chapter 32 of Here With You where Troy gets his hair cut…. But, it's not really a follow up. But it uses a character and refers to it. Meh. Don't bother going to read the chapter of HWY if you haven't already, or if you don't remember it. This is kind of random and silly and pointless but after slaving away on HWY I felt like doing something silly and random and pointless.**

**It's set after Here With You – so it's in the week after the musical. **

**This one shot is dedicated to icesk8ter93 because **

**1 – On Saturday it is her 15th birthday! **

**2 – She was one of the most awesome supporters throughout Here With You. **

**3 - She was the one who asked me about whether I was going to discuss the changes in hairstyle with Troy and Gabriella between HSM and HSM2. I was standing at my checkout at work one day, daydreaming about Zachary and HSM in general because, well, that's what I do; and suddenly I had this random image in my brain and next thing you know, this story was born. **

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING:-)**

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Taylor, Gabriella and the rest of the scholastic decathlon team were standing around the bench in a science laboratory, peering over at the directions for the experiment they were conducting in preparation for the upcoming south western decathlon final.

"I'm hungry," Jenna complained.

"This won't take long," Taylor said. "There will be plenty of lunch period remaining so you can go eat."

"See, and with the copper carbonate, the flame will be a yellowy green colour," Gabriella explained.

"How cool! I want a purple flame!" Martha declared.

"Oh. That should work with the… hmm… the potassium carbonate, I think."

Gabriella leaned across the bench, not realising that a portion of her long, curly brunette hair had swung forward, making contact with the Bunsen burner flame.

"Gabriella!!!!" Jenna shrieked.

Gabriella looked down and subsequently screamed, seeing a small flame ignited on the bottom of her hair, the putrid smell of burning hair infiltrating the atmosphere of the room. Jeremy quickly pulled her back, Gabriella letting rip with another glass shattering scream. Taylor, the quick thinking logical one, grabbed the bucket of emergency water they had and threw it over Gabriella's head. Gabriella was shaking and crying – and sopping wet – but at least she was out of any immediate danger.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," Gabriella breathed, her heart beating a million miles an hour.

"Great, now our experiment is ruined," Freddie complained, looking at where the water had splashed all over the bench.

"I don't care about our experiment! I could have died!" Gabriella shrieked.

"Oh please, it wasn't even on fire. Hardly."

"Look at this…. I've LOST hair here. LOOK AT IT!"

Gabriella pulled at her hair, another clump dropping away.

"Gabriella, it's okay," Martha said soothly, patting her friend on the back.

"No it's not okay!"

Gabriella ran from the room, not even removing her goggles and smock. She fled to the nearest girls bathroom. Taylor was close behind her, grabbing both of their bags, and arrived in the bathroom as Gabriella had thrown her protective clothing on the floor and was staring in the mirror.

"The spring fling is coming up!" Gabriella screeched. "I'm going to look like some freak! And Troy will think I look ugly and I know that Liana still has her eye on him and she has gorgeous hair and…"

Taylor meanwhile turned the tap on, cupped her hands under the faucet collecting a pool of water, and threw it at Gabriella.

"Why did you do that?!" Gabriella demanded. "Was it still on fire?"

"No. I was trying to get you to calm down. You were almost hyperventilating."

"I'M PERFECTLY CALM! DON'T I SOUND CALM?!?!" Gabriella shrieked. Her pitch was nearing the range in which only dogs can hear.

"Gabriella, it's not that bad. It's only that bit there that is damaged and it's not that much. You'll just have to go to the salon and get your hair cut a bit is all. Feel glad it didn't burn up any higher. You'll still have hair way past your shoulders."

"But…"

"There are starving children in Ethiopia. Don't whinge about your hair."

Gabriella narrowed her eyes at Taylor. "You can only use that excuse every so often before its effect will diminish."

"Seriously, it's not the end of the world."

"What about for today? It looks… hideous."

Taylor sighed. "What if I acquire you a hat or something?"

Gabriella nodded. "Okay. I'll be in here."

She turned and locked herself in a stall.

"I'm sure you don't need to lock yourself in a stall."

"What if someone else comes in?"

Taylor sighed. "You're lucky you are such a good friend, or my patience would have worn thin with all of these dramatics. You'd think you were a cheerleader or something."

………………………………………………

Taylor quickly headed in the direction of the cafeteria, quickly locating their group of friends.

"Does anyone have a hat?" Taylor asked abruptly, interrupting the conversation the boys were engaged in.

"Hello to you too," Chad said with a smirk.

"Where have you been? Where's Gabriella?" Troy asked. "I thought your meeting was only for the first half of lunch?"

Taylor winced. "There was an incident…"

"An incident?" Troy asked, looking rather alarmed.

"Oh, don't worry. She's fine. You'd think she was dying or something with how much she's freaking out. There was an incident with a Bunsen burner. Long story short, her hair caught on fire…"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Troy exclaimed, leaping up from his chair.

"Oh, not like that. Just a bit, the very end. We put it out. She's fine. Locked in a bathroom stall, but she's fine. She's convinced that you won't want to go with her to the Spring Fling any more because she'll have to get a hair cut. So I'm back at, does anyone have a hat?"

"If it's just a little bit, why don't you just braid her hair and you won't even be able to tell there's a shorter bit," Chad suggested.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Taylor said, smacking her palm to her forehead. She then looked at him suspiciously. "I'm surprised you even know what a braid is."

"I know a lot of things you would be surprised by, Taylor," Chad remarked.

Taylor paused to contemplate this comment, but then realised Gabriella was still in the bathroom, and turned on her heels and ran back in the direction of the bathroom. It was still empty, bar the locked stall. She could hear sobs from the inside.

"Gabriella?" Taylor asked tentatively. "Why don't we just braid your hair and then we won't even see the short bit?"

"There's more than one short bit now," Gabriella's miserable, tiny voice said.

"Huh?"

The stall door creaked open, swinging in. Taylor gasped. Gabriella was clutching a pair of scissors, now with several shorter sections.

"Oh Gabriella…"

"I thought… I thought I could just fix it myself. But these scissors aren't really designed for cutting hair and… and…"

Gabriella burst into tears again.

"The braid really isn't going to work is it?" Taylor mused. "What if we just do a messy bun? A hat isn't going to work now either, unless you tuck all of your hair up into the hat."

"I don't care," Gabriella said dejectedly. "I've accepted the fact that Liana and Troy will go to the spring fling together.

Taylor rolled her eyes and searched through her bag, acquiring a hairbrush and a hair tie.

"Are you PMSing or something? You really are overreacting. I'm certain that Troy doesn't like you because you have long hair."

Gabriella sighed. "I like my hair, okay? It's pretty much the only thing about me that I really do like. I mean, I know I'm not ugly or anything. But people always say how nice my hair is."

"And it will still be nice, but just shorter. Now sit still, and turn around so I can style this properly," Taylor instructed.

Gabriella sat sniffling whilst Taylor worked quickly to pull her hair into a pony tail, and then on the final twist of the hair tie, leaving it tucked half beneath and pulling the strands around randomly.

"It's fine. You wouldn't know anything," Taylor assured her.

"Promise you won't tell anyone I cut my hair," Gabriella said in a small voice.

"I promise."

Gabriella headed to the cafeteria resolutely. They arrived at the table and she was surprised to find that Troy had bought her some food.

"Figured you wouldn't have a lot of time left," he said sympathetically.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks splotchy, the fact she had been crying evident for everyone to see.

"You wouldn't know anything was different Gab," Chad said cheerily. "It looks fine."

"It'll look different tomorrow," she said softly. "I need to book a hair appointment… I should go to the computer lab and look a salon up on the yellow pages online."

Troy pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, flicking through the address book.

"That's the number of the place I went to. It was very modern. Lots of other fashionable type women were there so they must be good," Troy informed her.

"Okay."

"So. Was it cool having your hair on fire?" Jason asked.

Gabriella glared at him. "No."

"Troy lit my hair on fire once. It was hilarious," Chad said with a grin.

"That explains it," Taylor commented.

"Explains what?"

"Your hair."

………………………………………………

Gabriella managed to get an appointment for that afternoon, as there had been a cancellation, and was sitting in the cushy black leather chair by 4pm. A young, girl in her early twenties, with unnaturally blonde hair and streaks of bright red throughout approached Gabriella, a smile on her face.

"Hi, I'm Jaime!"

"Hello."

"So what were you after today sweetie?" Jaime asked, moving her hand toward Gabriella's hair tie.

"Wait, don't pull it out!" Gabriella yelped.

Jaime's eyes widened, and she pulled her hand back tentatively.

"Okay to start with, what you're about to see will mortify you. There was an incident at school with a Bunsen burner and my hair got burnt and then I tried to fix it but the scissors were blunt…. Anyway."

Gabriella pulled out the hair tie that was keeping her hair back.

"So I know you gave me this speech about a Bunsen burner but really… were you depressed and cut your hair in a suicidal rage?" Jaime asked.

"No!"

"Okay… was it a dare? Trying to impress a boy?"

"No! I have a boyfriend! He's the one who referred me here actually."

"Oh really? Tell me about him!"

"His name is Troy, he's about 5 foot 9, he's an athlete but he also…"

"His hair darling, tell me about his hair. That's how I know people.

"Oh… umm he did have like shaggy light brown hair with some faded bleach bits. It's now shorter and a bit spikey and a darker brown…"

Jaime gasped. "Ohhh you're Troy's girlfriend! I did his hair! He is adorable! Did you like the cut? He was so hesitant at first but I promised him that everyone would love it."

"He looks hot. So hot that even more girls are in love with him than already were. And now he's got an ugly girlfriend," Gabriella said bitterly.

Jaime rolled her eyes. "You need to calm down, babe. Now. Let's fix up this mess here. You've got gorgeous hair, so whatever we do it's going to look adorable. Have you thought about some colour? Going darker?"

Gabriella furrowed her brow. "Darker? It's already fairly dark."

"I think we could find a really sexy black tone for you, like even leaning towards a tinge of midnight blue."

"What's wrong with my hair colour?" Gabriella demanded.

Jaime smiled. "You and Troy are so meant to be together. That's almost exactly what he said. How about we just fix the cut and then we can talk about the colour."

………………………………………………

Gabriella held her head high as she walked through the front gate at school the next day. However the confident look she was displaying was a mask of her true insecurity.

She felt stupid for having been so upset – not stupid, ridiculous. She felt ridiculous. It was just hair, after all. It was still sitting at shoulder length. It wasn't like she'd had to go get a butchy-do haircut. But Gabriella had learnt in her short 16 years and 8 months or so alive on Planet Earth that when a girl is upset about something, she is upset about something, and that there is little to be done.

Troy recognised the insecurity in Gabriella's eyes. It was like the insecurity he had felt after his haircut. It was the same look that his mother would come home with each and every time she went to the hair salon, even if she just got a copy of the same hairstyle she always had done.

"Morning Gabriella!" Taylor called out cheerily as Gabriella approached.

"Hello," Gabriella said hesitantly.

A few of the cheerleaders were hanging around out the front with the boys and Taylor.

"I love that colour on you!" Dee gushed.

Gabriella glanced at the pretty senior head cheerleader dubiously. "Really?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "I tried a similar colour last year and it just made me look washed out and pale. But it looks fantastic on you."

"It's a different colour?" Jason asked.

The girls all glared at Jason witheringly.

"You're such a boy!" Taylor said, rolling her eyes.

"Uh… yeah I am. Thank you?" he said, half questioningly.

"I like it," Troy said quietly, holding his arm out to indicate he wanted to give her a hug. Gabriella allowed him to envelope his arms around her, hugging him back tightly.

"Do you really?" she asked, biting her lip.

Troy nodded. "The colour is sexy. And I like the cut. Now I can run my fingers through your hair without getting it all messed up and tangled."

He demonstrated, gently stroking the back of her scalp as he raked them through carefully, not wanting to mess up her style. Gabriella blushed, inwardly glowing.

"It'll also be easier to look after," Taylor said, pointing out the practicality. "And cooler during summer."

"And, you'll use less shampoo and conditioner so it'll be more economically effective," Chad added.

"Do you even know what economically effective means?" Taylor asked him witheringly.

"Not really," he admitted. "But my mom uses the phrase a lot so I figured I'd give it a go. Did I use it right?"

"Amazingly, yes," Taylor said.

The group continued to talk and chat, passing the minutes until they needed to go inside to homeroom.

Gabriella was surrounded by friends, the protective arm of an amazingly hot boyfriend wrapped around her waist.

Suddenly, the worries of her hair style seemed like the least important thing in the world.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

**Author's Note: Yeah… random… pointless… what did I say?**

**To readers of Here With You (and people looking forward to Play It My Way):**

**I was just so overwhelmed with so many of your lovely comments and feedback for HWY. I have the intention of going back and responding to as many of you as possible. As I post this, I'm in Sydney visiting a friend (if you live in Australia or are familiar with Australian geography, I live on the Gold Coast) so my internet access is limited. My e-mail account doesn't like his computer which is frustrating the crap out of me. But yes... thank you so much to everyone.**

**As for Play It My Way - next week. I promise. :-)**


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